Sage Hills Vineyards

Although Sage Hill is one of Summerland's, BC newest wineries; It does have a wealth of experience behind it. Owner Rick and Leah Thrussell have been growing grapes since 2006.
Their winemaker is the highly respected award winning Tom Dibello.

In 2007, they planted Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer. These varietals have done well in Summerland's temperate microclimate and this land is particularly well suited to these three varieties. They also build their home in the middle of the vineyard.

Rick is very passionate about growing grapes and using organic farming methods.

They believe that they are merely purveyors of this land for a period in time and, when the time comes for it to be passed on to future generations, this land should be in it's most natural form for others to use and enjoy.

Partial proceeds from the sale of each bottle of Sage Hills wine is donated to the Autism Society of British Columbia

Their Wines

Pinot Griswas crafted through a ‘champagne program', which involved fermenting and cooling slowly in stainless steel tanks at 14ºC with Yeast VL-1 over 36 days to preserve the freshness of the fruit.

Gewürztraminercrop levels at 1.5 tonness per acre. Vertical shoot positioned canopy management systems were also utilized to ensure good bunch exposure. Whole grape clusters were hand-harvested then hand-sorted into a membrane press. Crafted in the champagne program style, the wine was cold settled and racked off gross lees to a stainless tank where it fermented at a cool 14ºC with Yeast VL-1 over 18 days. It was then removed from yeast lees immediately.

One of the better BC Gewürztraminer with soft flavours perfect balance and sweetness.
At a recnet winery tasting numerous people mention how good this wine was. 89

Rosé Made from 100% Syrah, these grapes were grown at Covert Farms, a beautiful organic vineyard at higher elevation just north of Oliver in the south Okanagan Valley, at a tonnage of approximately two per acre. Clusters were hand-sorted into a de-stemmer/crusher, cold soaked for nine hours then pressed to tank for cold settling. The juice was racked off gross lees to a stainless steel tank where it fermented at a cool 14ºC with Yeast VL-1 over 34 days. It was allowed lees contact for four months.

I am not a fan of Rosé but this one I would buy
flavours of strawberries with hints of pepper and spice.
- 86

Sage Hill currently uses the facilities at Okanagan Crush Pad. There is no tasting room to visit